After the attack she was dragged out of the water by her friends.
She remained calm after the attack.
"She was conscious the whole time, but had a pretty good gash on her leg. There wasn't a tonne of blood, obviously it wasn't an arterial bleed," Smart said.
Porpoise Bay in Southland, where the woman was bitten by a shark. Photo / File
Smart he had just finished a surf lesson and was back up his surf shop when the attack happened.
"I looked down the beach and I saw some one running and I just thought something wasn't right.''
He quickly drove down to the beach and after learning it was a shark attack immediately called 111.
He got his stretcher and took her to a friends house near the beach.
He was unsure what type of shark it was, but believed it was a shark rather than a sea lion.
In 2014 a surfer was bitten three times, reportedly by a great white, while he was surfing at Porpoise Bay, near Curio Bay.
Surfer Darren Mills, 28, punched the shark away. Mills suffered three deep gashes between his thigh and his calf as the shark latched on to his leg while he sat on his surfboard 50m offshore.
